New app lets you book medical appointments

Medical booking website 1st Available has launched mobile apps for iOS and Android so that you can book medical appointments on the fly.

Finding a medical practitioner with an available appointment when you have a medical emergency can be a bit of a pain in more ways than one. Often the only option is to sit in a waiting room, well, waiting for a slot to free up. A website called 1st Available has newly launched apps for Android and iOS that aim to remedy this problem — by searching for practitioners in your area with available appointments so that you can get medical care as quickly as possible.

Launched in April 2012, the website allowed users unprecedented access to medical bookings. To make an appointment, you select the type of health care professional you require, including general practitioners, dentists, physiotherapists, optometrists — even naturopathy and chiropracty are covered from a drop-down menu. There's also a handy check box that filters out non-bulk billing practices.

You then select your consultation type and insurance type, and specify your location and the desired time of your appointment. 1st Available will then search its database of over 3200 partnered practitioners to find you an appointment. If your favoured practitioner isn't available on the service, you can recommend them to the site.

"The health industry in Australia is notoriously slow when it comes to adapting to technology — but consumers have led the change," said 1st Available managing director Klaus Bartosch. "We're now all more comfortable with web and mobile applications for doing just about anything. By downloading and using the 1stAvailable.com.au app, it takes all the guesswork out of booking an appointment. You can finally book an appointment at a time of your convenience. No phone calls, no waiting on hold, no restless nights. You can book a medical appointment, with certainty, around the clock, with a few taps of your smart phone."

The 1st Available app can be downloaded for free on iOS and Android.